Method of burning liquid fuel.



Patented Dec. 9, I902.

- No.-7l5,638..-

. H. B. CARY.

METHOD UF'BURNING uuulo FUEL. (Application filed May 29, 1902.:

(No Model.)

Witmzooeo NITE TATES HENRY BOUNDS CARY, OF LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

METHOD OF BURNING LIQUID FUEL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 715,638, dated December9, 1902.

Original application filed April 11 l 1901, Serial No. 55,404. Dividedand this application filed May 29, 1902. $erial ITO-109,535. (No model)To all whom it znay concern;

Be it known that I, HENRY BOUNDS CARY,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the countyof Los Angeles and State of California, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Methods of Burning Liquid Fuel; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same. My invention relates to a certainnew and useful method of burning liquid fuel, and my present applicationis a division of an application for Letters Patent filed by me on the11th day of April, 1901, Serial No. 55,404, for improvement inliquid-fuel burners.

My present invention is based upon the common knowledge that carbon andoxygen are the natural enemies of one another and that they will notcombine and burn unless mixed in suitable proportions and subjected to atemperature of the proper degree. With this knowledge of the propertiesand characteristics of carbon and oxygen and according to the presentstate of the art in burning liquid fuel it has been customary to projectthe hydrocarbon under pressure through a constricted nozzle or jet,which is designed to pulverize or atomize the liquid, and to thendeliver it directly and still under pressure into the fire zoneorfurnace through a passage into which atmospheric air is entrained andcaused to travel with the pulverized or atomized liquid hydrocarbon.

The disadvantages of the method referred to is, first, that a largepercentage of the hydroearbon is not effectually pulverized to such adegree as to be supported or to mix with the surrounding entrained air,and consequently and owing to its gravity it falls to the floor of thefire-box and fouls the fire by producing monoxid and smoke; second, theair entering the fire coincidently with the pulverized hydrocarbon andaccelerated by the impinging jet of hydrocarbon, supplemented by thedraft produced by the fire, rushes toward the fines with the hydrocarbonin columnated form, which is broken only by the explosions of thoseatoms of hydrocarbon and oxygen which come in contact in the zone whichis at a proper temperature to cause chemical reaction or ignition, andconsequently much of the hydrocarbon and oxygen escapes to the fluesunconsumed, while a certain other quantity of the hydrocarbon and oxygenconstituents meet in improper proportions of their chemical equivalents,and hence a fire of a diiferent character to that desired is produced.

My present invention is designed to overcome the hereinbefore-enumerateddisadvantages and defects in burning liquid fuel, and consists, broadly,in pulverizing or atomizing the liquid hydrocarbon by forcing it underpressure through a constricted orifice in conjunction With air or steam,both under the same relative pressure, the air or'steam so.

used being for the purpose of giving to the liquid hydrocarbon greaterinitial velocity to assimilate and entrain outer atmospheric air onwhich it impinges and to act as an element of displacement in theorifice of the jet used, so that a larger or smaller quantity of lighthydrocarbon may be used without varying the size of the jet used, thendelivering the pulverized liquid hydrocarbon and air to a mixing-chamberintermediate of the delivery devices or jet and the fire zone or fireboxand permitting said constituents to expand to reduce the pressure orprojectile force of the same, and thoroughly intermingling andassociating said constituents and finally delivering the same,thoroughly comminuted and intermingled and in predetermined and suitableproportions, to the fire zone or fire-box at reduced pressure, andigniting and burning the same.

In carrying out myinvention an apparatus of some kind is necessarilyneeded, and I have found that such an apparatus as is shown anddescribed in my application for Letters Patent hereinbefore referred tois well adapted for the purpose, and the drawings accompanying mypresent application are substantially the same as those of saidapplication.

Figure 1 is a side elevation partially in section. Fig. 2 isacross-section on enlarged scale and taken on the line II III of Fig. 1and looking toward the right. Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, butlooking toward the left. Fig. 4 is a fragmentary detail, partly insection and on enlarged scale, of the exit end of the mixing-chamber andburner-nozzle and also showing a drip-shield, hereinafter referred to.Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the jet-piece through which the liquidbydrocarbon and air under pressure and in regulated proportions areejected to primarily comminute and mix the same, and Fig. 6 is a centralhorizontal section of the jet-piece shown at Fig. 5.

In the application hereinbefore referred to I have minutely describedthe construction and operation of the apparatus shown, and reference ismade to said application for a full understanding of the same; but in mypresent application I shall refer generally to the several parts of theapparatus and for convenience shall employ the same reference lettersand numerals as are employed in my other said application.

A is an ordinary oil reservoir or tank supplied with oil under pressureby any suitable device, such as a pump b, and with air under pressurefrom a reservoir or tank 0.

(Z is a jet-piece formed with a central chamber 1 and with twovalve-controlled inlets 2 3, opening into the chamber 1. A needlevalveis shown at 5, which extends between the inlets 2 and 3, and saidneedle-valve controls the escape of the oil and compressed air throughthe jet-outlet 4.

e is a pipe through which the oil is supplied to one of the inlets ofthe jet-piece, and fis another pipe, through which the compressed airfrom the tank 0 is supplied to the other inlet.

9 is a connecting-pipe between the air-tank and the pipe f, leading tothe jet-inlet.

h is a mixing tube or chamber closed to the external atmosphere and inwhich the jetpiece at is properly secured, and 2' is a tapering conduitthrough which the oil and air delivered from the jet-piece are conductedinto the mixing tube or chamber h. The end of the tube or chamber h istapered, as shown at 70, and terminates in a discharge-nozzle j. WVithinthe tapered and reduced end of the chamber is formed a drain m, which isprotected by a shield 92, bent down at 0. The mixing-chamber is providedwith a drippipe 29.

q is a screw-threaded jet-nipple provided with the jet-outlet 4:.

'2" represents a bolt or rivet employed to secure the shield o in place,and s .9 represent the front corners of the shield bent downwardly tosupport the shield.

In carrying out my present invention with the use of an apparatus suchas shown the supply of oil orliquid hydrocarbon maybe reduced by partlyclosing the oil-valve and the air under pressure will then fill theorifice in proportion to the reduction made in the supply of oil, andconsequentlya greater amount of atmospheric air will be entrained or agreater quantity of oil and a less quantity of air under pressure may bepassed through the jet, and consequently the air under pressure and theentrained atmospheric air will be in less proportion to the liquidhydrocarbon, and accordingly as the proportions of the constituents arethus predeterminedly controlled and delivered to the mixing-chamberabsolute control as to the character of the fire is also controlled.This will be best understood by the following reference to the drawings.The oil is conducted under pressure through one of the converging inletsof the jet-piece and the quantity so conducted is regulated by asuitable valve, such as shown at 7. Air under pressure is likewiseconducted through the other outlet of the jetpiece and is regulated inquantity by a valve, such as shown at 8. The oil and compressed air thusdelivered to the central chamber 1 are controlled in their contact witheach other at their convergence by a central needlevalve 5 and the oiland air are primarily comminuted and mixed by passing u'nder pressure tothe constricted passage 4 of a nipple (1, all as fully explained in mypending application hereinbefore referred to. The comminuted and mixedoil and air is then delivered through an open-ended andgraduallycontracted or cone-shaped tube 2', located in the end of amixing-chamber h, causing entrained atmospheric air to be conducted withthe oil and compressed air into the said mixing-chamber, as clearlyindicated by the arrows, the quantity of entrained air being regulatedby the force exerted through the jet-piece. After the oil, compressedair and entrained air pass beyond the contracted end of the tube 2', inpartially-mixed condition, and substantially such as at present is thecase when these constituents are delivered to the fire zone,they escapeto the increased area within the mixing-chamber h, which for the purposeof carrying out my improved method is contracted at and terminates in adelivery-nozzlej. During the passage of the constituents through thechamber h and by reason of its increased area over the cone-shaped tube2' and its reduced area at the terminal end said constituents arethoroughly tumbled, rolled, and reverberated, as clearly indicated bythe confused directions of the arrows, thus thoroughly breaking up theordinarily columnated form of the oil and the air, reducing the initialpressure under which the constituents are delivered to themixing-chamberand delivering them to the fire zone in such substantiallythoroughly comminuted and mixed or associated condition and with thehydrocarbon constituents sufficiently fine to be fully saturated withair and also in such condition as to insure comparatively thoroughcombustion and a soft steady flame, entirely free from the usual roaringsound. It will also be understood that all of the entrained air which isbrought into contact and mixed with the hydrocarbon enters themixing-chamber and that air from no other source is permitted to contactwith the hydrocarbon and that the hydrocarbon and air so mixed are insuch proportions and conditions that a flame of any predeterminedcharacter may be made.

5 Realizing the difficulty of so atomizing the oil and mixing it withoxygen as to secure the absolute combustion of every particle of theoil, suitable meanssuch asthedrain m, shield 11, and drip-pipe p, asfully described in my pending applicationmay be provided for therecovery of such particles of oil as would otherwise be Wasted.

In the employment of my improved method of burning liquid fuel and bythe use of such an apparatus as is herein shown and in the mannerdescribed in the application heretofore referred to I am enabled tosuccessfully burn liquid fuel in either open-air or closed furnaces. Thegist or broad idea of my presout invention resides in thoroughly mixingthe liquid hydrocarbon and air in regulated quantities in a chamberinterposed between the delivery jet-piece and the fire zone anddelivering the thoroughly-mixed constituents under a pressure far lessthan that existing at the locality of the jet-piece and which isnecessary to secure the pulverization of the liquid hydrocarbon, wherebythe objectionable roaring sound is avoided, as well as the 0 effect of ablast upon the firebox or crownlongitudinally a predetermined distance,then deflecting the-longitudinal movement thereof toward the center toproduce a reverberative and mixing action, and finally delivering thefinely comminuted hydrocarbon saturated with sufficient air to secureperfect combus- 5o tion, and at a pressure considerably lower than theinitial pressure exerted at the inlet end of the burner, through anaxial outlet of mixing-chamber, and igniting the same.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

HENRY BOUNDS GARY. Witnesses:

ERNEST REDFIELD, ROBERT C. SPARKS.

